Preventing Further Radicalisation Is the Challenge Muslims Must Undertake: Some Concrete Suggestions

Now the question is, how do we go forward? If we really want to make a difference, we will have to start a substantive dialogue with the ulema and make sure that they agree to...

Is It Time Muslims Standardize A Contextual Qur'an, Asks A Reader. Yes, Perhaps, But Building A Quran-Based Islam, Shorn Of Deviations, Will Not Be Easy.

What do you mean by logical order, Hamza Saheb? Do you mean chronological order, which would also restore primacy to Meccan verses of universal significance? After all, it's in a chronological order that early Muslims including the Prophet (saw) must have understood and memorised the Quran. They could not have memorised contextual verses that had not been revealed yet, as those situations had not arisen by that time.

Facing the brutalities of Islamist terror, while President Obama will not go beyond calling it violent extremism, the head of Sunni Islam's oldest seat of learning, Jamia al-Azhar admitted in a counter-terrorism conference in Mecca that extremism was caused by “corrupt interpretations of Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad”, and Islamic curriculums needed to change.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Spiritual Meditations

29 Aug 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

The Spirit of Ramadan - Eid Mubarak

By Mike Ghouse

Rituals signify the mile stones of our daily life. Every significant moment of the day is a ritual. It is an unwritten way of measuring our progression; a memory pattern to bring discipline to our actions.

From the moment we are born to the last rites of our life and every moment in-between is laden with rituals, though some of us may deny it. Whether we go to the gym, eat our food; go to sleep, wear clothes, drive some place, in our intimate moments, or picking that phone up, we follow rituals.

Discipline is necessary to do things on time, managing personal relationships, driving to a destination or keeping within budget to achieve the goals; the result is worth the discipline to most people. When joyous, whether we are a theist or not, we have to express that sentiment, otherwise a sense of incompleteness lingers in our hearts.

Although presented in the usual xenophobic and sectarian style of the Urdu Press, the following article tells us how much Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian luminaries respected Maulana Mohammad Ali’s beautiful translation of the Holy Quran, even though any write-up by an Ahmadi scholar is anathema to our illiterate ulema (religious scholars) who are incapable of appreciating anything worthwhile beyond their microscopic vision. Incidentally, Maulana Mohammad Ali is also famous for his excellent exposition of the tenets of our religion in his book “The Religion of Islam”. This book is far more relevant in our times than it was even when it was written.

The (word) games we play to avoid dealing with the problems of some of the poorest Indians.

It's strange season again in the corridors of planning and power — the run up to the 12th Five-Year Plan. This is when myriad Planning Commission committees review the (somewhat predictable) non-implementation of policies intended to benefit some of the poorest Indians, and recommend changes, only to repeat the exercise five years later.

Forgive my cynicism. It arises from the fact that once again, when it comes to Muslims, we are confronted with word games one hoped had been left behind. We are repeatedly told we cannot plan interventions for ‘Muslims qua Muslims', because it's not constitutionally appropriate; at best we can plan for ‘Minorities'. Hence, the strange situation of offering small ‘Minority' scholarships to Parsis (with presumably nearly 100 per cent literacy), and to Christians (with 80.3 per cent literacy rate) along with Muslims (59.1 per cent literacy rate in 2001, lowest among religious groups).

Islam does not Sponsor Violence in the Name of Establishing the Rule of Allah

By Jahangir Alam Qasmi, NewAgeIslam.com

Qabeel (Cane) killed his younger brother Habeel (Abel) out of jealousy as his offering was not accepted by Allah while his brother’s offering was. Instead of doing introspection into what went wrong with him, he killed his brother. That was the first instance of killing on earth. Referring to the incident the Quran says:

“Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind. And indeed, there came to them Our Messengers with clear proofs, evidences, and signs, even then after that many of them continued to exceed the limits (e.g. by doing oppression unjustly and exceeding beyond the limits set by Allah by committing the major sins) in the land!.” (Al Maidah 32)

Following excerpts from Urdu article were translated byArman NeyaziofNewAgeIslam.com

The world today is on the path of progress but madrasas are on the decline although increasing day by day in number. What is the reason that now madrasas are not producing scholars, scientists and researchers of high standard? During the last centuries they produced many such people who served the world in a way which cannot be forgotten. World will always be indebted to them. Some of them are: Ibn Biljabr (father of Algebra), Ibn Sena (father of Medicine), Jaabir bin Hayaan (father of Chemistry), Khildoon (father of Sociology and Political Science), Al Quasimul Jebarbi (father of Surgery), Ibn Nafisi (father of Blood Pressure) and Ahmad Memar (architect) who had designed Taj Mahal. These are the people who took their education in madrasas and reached to the top in different spheres in the world.

That there is no single universally-approved definition of 'communalism', the term having been defined in many diverse, indeed often contradictory, ways. But, as a working definition, one could define it as an ideology and politics that are based on the wholly untenable notion that human communities are defined on the basis of an extremely reified notion of religion, and that the interests of each community so defined are wholly or to a large extent opposed to those of other communities defined in the same way. Inevitably, therefore, communities defined in this way are seen as antagonistic to each other, and it is believed that they can never harmoniously and peacefully co-exist. If they at all do live in peace with each other, the assumption is that this peace is only temporary, that it is out of compulsion of circumstance or due to the fear of the law or the wrath of the state, and that, in the absence of these compelling circumstances, the different communities would otherwise have been engaged in never-ceasing conflict, whether symbolic or physical.

LONDON — Unsurprisingly, the horrific attacks of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right Christian extremist in Norway, have stirred powerful debate among the estimated 44.1 million Muslims in Europe.

Although most of his 76 victims were at a Labour Party youth camp, Mr. Breivik made clear that his real targets were Muslims, and what he sees as their insidious infiltration of a Christian continent.

Those who frequent password-protected Web sites, mainly used by supporters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, are fuming that Mr. Breivik’s acts constitute a “crusade” against Islam and declare that it is the responsibility of each Muslim to be prepared.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Islam, Women and Feminism

30 Jul 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Are Muslim women inferior to men as per Shariah and Islamic Tradition?

By Dr. Kausar Fatima

Translated from Urdu byArman Neyazi, NewAgeIslam.com

When I was a student of Aalim, Faazil (religious degrees given by madrasas) I had lots of complaints from my God. I could not understand why He created us women with deficient intellect and poor religious understanding,Naquis ul Aqul wad deen? Why did he eternally ban us from going out of our houses with “W Quarn a fi Boutekunna”? I also had a complaint of ‘the men being appointed a supervisor on us, the women’. Why was every man given a higher position than us with “Al Rejalu Alaihinna Darjah”even if he is a moral deviant? Why were we given less share in property and why our evidence is taken as half of that of a man?

When I completed my Maulvi Degree, I had a book ‘Quran e Rejali Tafawwuq” which stated that in fact this world is created for the men and us women had a marginal role here. (Nauzo Billah).Litaskunu Alaiha.Had my education stopped there, for the rest of my life I would have taken Quran as a charter of patriarchal society.

As Pakistan turns 64, it is facing the consequences of the bad decisions of its ruling elite.

SIXTY FOUR years ago, we dreamed of a modern nation- state in which citizens would enjoy the fruits of security, justice and prosperity, one without religious persecution, at peace with itself, its neighbours and the rest of the world. But a litany of false starts, corrupt practices and misplaced concreteness has transformed our progressive reality into a living nightmare. The road not taken has made all the difference.

Shortly after independence our leaders determined to woo the United States and become a client state. This relationship had two disastrous consequences: it made us economically dependent on US handouts so that we could not fashion a self- sustaining and free economy; and it enabled the military to become the predominant political player in the country, to the detriment of developing sound democratic institutions and competent political leaders.

The myth of “Islamic terrorism” — diligently nurtured by the mainstream Jewish-controlled journalists in the US and Europe and their misguided cousins in the Indian media — has been busted by a report prepared by the European Police Organization (Europol).

From 2007 to 2010, the data shows, Muslim radicals were only responsible for six strikes in the continent, while separatists and extreme right-wing groups like neo-Nazis carried out a shocking 1,326 terror acts, mostly in France and Spain.

Some of these separatists are fighting for independence in Europe itself (as the ETA of Spain), while for others the focus of struggle is in distant parts — Columbia, Kurdistan, etc.

A steep rise has been seen in left-wing terrorist actions in recent years — from 21 incidents in 2007 to 45 in 2010. Recession and the resulting anger and discontent among the general public have been cited as the main reasons.

Anders Behring Breivik is in solitary confinement having admitted to the Oslo massacres of July 22 in which at least 77 people died. Most of the victims were members of the youth wing of the Norwegian Labour Party, a Party with a history of support for multiculturalism and religious tolerance.

Breivik allegedly believed he was part of a violent crusade against Islam; a shock troop in what Samuel Huntington has called the ‘clash of civilisations’. His lawyer has stated that he is probably insane a conjecture supported by some columnists and accredited experts on the psychology of mass murder. Such a characterisation is glib and strangely reassuring. How can anyone capable of such atrocities be anything but insane?

Whether or not this diagnosis is confirmed through legal process, it is important to recognise that it allows us to evade some complicated questions. If Breivik is a deranged monster, one who has lost all sense of moral proportion or attachment to reality, then there is less need to understand his acts in the context of the rise of new racial politics in the contemporary West.

FATA is a black hole where reality is created to suit Pakistan security establishment

By Farhat Taj

Tribal leaders in South Waziristan (and later all over FATA), who opposed or potentially could oppose the militants’ escape into their area in the wake of the US’s bombing in Afghanistan were killed in pursuit of trapping the US in Afghanistan

On July 31, 2011, a programme on a private TV channel was aired in which a TV crew was transported by the Pakistan Army to Wana, South Waziristan. The army soldiers escorted the team throughout their stay in Wana. The team talked with the soldiers stationed in the area along with some tribesmen, and also aired the development work initiated by the army in Waziristan. The whole programme was misleading.

THE carnage in Norway last Friday shocked the world’s conscience. It has also posed some extremely tough questions for European societies, the world’s Muslims in general, and the people of Pakistan in particular.

Europe will do itself and the world at large great injustice and harm if it dismisses the matter as the isolated work of a deranged mind. It must look deep into the factors that led to Anders Behring Breivik’s reliance on perverted intelligence.

The unpardonable doings of Al Qaeda, the other so-called jihadists and Muslim megalomaniacs have certainly contributed to the spread of Islamophobia in Europe and other parts of the western world, but it would be wrong to limit the list of culprits to them. It may be necessary to probe the extent to which the tone and tenor of the war on terror may have contributed to the growth of both militancy in parts of the Muslim world and reckless Muslim-bashing in the West. The idea is not to shift blame from one party to another, it is only a plea for keeping the indigenous sources of terrorism in Europe also in mind.

The last ten nights of Ramadan are the most precious among all the other nights. The last ten includes one night which Allah says is better than 1000 months.

Yet, the majority of the population begins its Eid shopping only in these last ten nights. You can see streets crowded with people all set to buy clothes, accessories and shoes for their family and themselves.

Some of those people who really want to spend Ramadan's grand finale in doing good deeds tend to prepare themselves in the first two weeks of this month. But not everyone is rich! Not everyone can afford the branded couture!

Most of them rely on retail shops which offer a wide range of collection in affordable prices. These retail shops are fully aware of their demand in the market and that the majority of people come to them. Hence, they exploit the commoners by sending them back. On asking one of the salesperson of a textile shop, why there were no new designs, pat came the reply, “Sister, please do visit us 2-3 days before Eid; the latest designs arrive only at that time.”

With communities as varied as Zoroastrians whose philanthropy built much of the city, Jews at one time, Baha’is and Hindus amongst many others, Karachi is undoubtedly the most religiously tolerant of its fellow cities. But this is no longer the face of Karachi that the world can see, writes Fatima Bhutto, the granddaughter of Pakistan’s first elected Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

KARACHI: Karachi has long been the face Pakistan wished to show to the world. The port city, one of the largest cities in the world, placed sixth or seventh, depending on whom you ask, with a population of more than 18 million, once represented the ideal of what Pakistan ought to have been.

Karachi was and still is the nation’s most ethnically diverse, carrying a reputation for being generously accepting and accommodating, a city that opened its doors to refugees, to migrants, to traders, artists and business communities who sought a harbour from which to connect to the outside shores.

Muslims seem to have been content with their existing station in life. Possessed of passivity, they have been wanting in ambition and drive to attain higher levels of productivity and prosperity. Advancement in the pursuit of knowledge requires hard work, which they have not been willing to undertake

There was a time when the ordinary individual’s right to know was not acknowledged. It is said of Naushirwan the Just that he was once out on a military campaign, the end of the month approached and the soldiers had to be paid their salaries, but the treasurer with bags of money had not yet arrived from the capital. He sent one of his ministers to a nearby town to see if someone would lend the king the money he needed for a few days. The minister found a wealthy blacksmith who manufactured weapons and made a lot of money.

What is evident in the aftermath of the Norway attacks that there is a definite attempt to polarize the world into Muslims and Christians and to be followed by many other groups, sub groups and divisions based on religion, nations, creed etc: This process of polarization is mainly led by the developed and rich countries and also followed by other countries.

Anders Breivik: There is nothing to Study in the mind of Norway’s Mass Killer

By Boris Johnson

25 Jul 2011

We can ignore his puerile ideology. Anders Breivik was interested only in himself.

It is not enough to say he is mad. Anders Breivik is patently mad: no one in their right mind would behave as he has done. Nor is it enough to say that he is evil. If the word evil has any meaning at all, then it must obviously apply to a man who can go to a lake island summer camp, call innocent young people to run towards him – and then shoot 85 of them with an automatic rifle.

We will never be satisfied with simple words like “mad” or “evil”, and for the days and weeks ahead we can expect exhaustive psychoanalysis of this dreary and supercilious 32-year-old sicko. We will summon and interview all the potential hobgoblins of his mind. With the help of the Norwegian investigators, we will try to understand how these demons persuaded him to engage in an act of such premeditated cruelty; and as our guide we will use the 1,500-page manifesto of hate that he (and possibly his accomplices) has posted on the internet.

Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire: And Ten Steps to Take to Do So

By Chalmers Johnson

However ambitious President Barack Obama's domestic plans, one unacknowledged issue has the potential to destroy any reform efforts he might launch. Think of it as the 800-pound gorilla in the American living room: our longstanding reliance on imperialism and militarism in our relations with other countries and the vast, potentially ruinous global empire of bases that goes with it. The failure to begin to deal with our bloated military establishment and the profligate use of it in missions for which it is hopelessly inappropriate will, sooner rather than later, condemn the United States to a devastating trio of consequences: imperial overstretch, perpetual war, and insolvency, leading to a likely collapse similar to that of the former Soviet Union.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — As leader of Indonesia’s — and the world’s — largest Muslim organization, Said Aqil Siraj used to get pelted with angry e-mails and text messages whenever he questioned Saudi Arabia’s rigid, ultra-puritanical take on Islam.

But the often menacing messages recently stopped — cut off by a single stroke from a Saudi executioner’s sword to the neck of an Indonesian maid in Mecca.

“Now I don’t get sent anything,” Siraj said. He is glad to be out of the firing line, at least for the moment, but is appalled that it took the beheading of a 54-year-old Indonesian grandmother to quiet abuse by supporters of Saudi-style Islam.

Late last month, members of the National Council of Dalit Christians and the National Coordination Committee for Dalit Christians sat on a hunger strike in Delhi, followed by a protest march through the streets of the capital, in which some 10,000 people participated. Their demand: extension of Scheduled Caste status and the benefits that go with it to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims. A number of top church leaders, including some 50 archbishops and bishops and hundreds of priests, pastors and nuns, participated in the demonstration, as did members of parliament from various opposition parties.

When one talks about minorities in Pakistan the usual impression is that they are Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis. However, there is, as Sono Khangharani, a low-caste Hindu from Sindh who rose to prominence from humble origins, put it, a minority within this minority. They are the Dalits of Pakistan – the low-caste Hindus. There are six million of them, and while Hindus do not consider them Hindus, the State simply classifies them as a Hindu minority. Thus they are subjected to discrimination from both sides.

The venom spewingarticle of Subramanian Swamy,lone leader and President of Janta Party has not only hurt minorities but all the secularists of the country. That is why non-Muslim more than the Muslim scholars, Journalists and writers have lodged their displeasure and discontent with his article. They have demanded action from the government against Mr Swamy. Mr Swamy‘s article exploded like a bomb on the peaceful environment of the country. If this live bomb is not defused it is going to be very dangerous for the secularism and peace of the county.

Countries that always seemed to be models of political sanity suddenly produce fascist rabble-rousers.

The atrocity committed this week by the Norwegian neo-Nazi — is it an isolated incident? Right-wing extremists all over Europe and the US are already declaiming in unison: “He does not belong to us! He is just a lone individual with a deranged mind! There are crazy people everywhere! You cannot condemn a whole political camp for the deeds of one single person!”

Sounds familiar. Where did we hear this before?

Of course, after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

There is no connection between the Oslo mass-murder and the assassination in Tel Aviv. Or is there?

During the months leading up to Rabin’s murder, a growing hate campaign was orchestrated against him. Almost all the Israeli right-wing groups were competing among themselves to see who could demonize him most effectively.